Marcello & Grace (Royals of Valleria #2) (18 page)

Alex knew he was concerned for Marcello as his big brother, not as the future king of Valleria. Alex had tried to be objective, but was failing miserably.

Alex hated to fail.

He switched from the treadmill to the punching bag. With each hit, he imagined he was punching Marcello. As children, they, particularly all the brothers, had often roughhoused and gotten into fights. Sometimes it was just what you needed. Other times, like right now, it was just an escape.

With his hands aching and knuckles bruised, he switched to free weights. With each curl of his arm, he sorted through the mission again and again, looking for mistakes or things they may have overlooked. Anything that might get his little brother killed.

“You are quite the sight, Prince Alexander,” Rebecca said. She was leaning against the doorjamb with her arms crossed over her chest and a smile on her face. It was a smile she reserved just for him.

“As are you, my future wife,” he said as he finished his set and put the weight down. She walked - no, sauntered - over to him in her crisp suit and high heels. He sat back and waited for her, watching as the pin she wore, the Vallerian royal crest set in gold and jewels, caught the light as she walked.

She moved to stand in front of him, and Alex spread his muscular, toned legs to accommodate her. Her hands delved into his hair, and her touch sent bursts of heat coursing through him. Just one look, one touch from her was enough to set him on fire.

“You’re all sweaty,” she said.

“And you’re not. I’ll go take a shower.”

“In a minute. Let me do this first.” She leaned down and kissed him. He tasted strawberries and chocolate on her tongue.

“Mmmm,” he said as he wrapped his arms around her, sweat be damned. “You taste delicious.”

She chuckled. “I went cake tasting today.”

“Wedding planning without me?”

“Yes,” she said with a broad smile. “You clearly cannot be trusted to make decisions where our wedding is concerned.”

“I make one wrong decision and I’m banned for life,” he joked, recalling the time he had apparently suggested something inappropriate for the future princess and queen. His mother had told him he was officially banned from wedding planning unless she told him otherwise. “Do I at least get to plan the wedding night?”

“Maybe. If you behave yourself.”

He growled. “That’s impossible around you, darling.”

She chuckled. “I know.” She leaned in to whisper in his ear. “It’s a good thing I’ve got something positively wicked planned then, isn’t it?”

He gripped her tighter. “You’re going to torture me for the next eleven months while I dream about what that could be?” She nodded. “Holy hell,” he muttered.

She threw her head back and laughed, giving him the perfect opportunity to drop a few strategically placed kisses along her throat and down the V-neck of her jacket. Her laughs turned to sighs.

When he reached the top of her cleavage, however, he didn’t undo the buttons as he usually would have and chose instead to rest his head against her.

Rebecca, also noticing his uncharacteristic mood, stroked his hair. She had learned so much about Alex in the month since they had come to mean everything to each other. Since they had moved in together, she seemed to learn something new about her enigmatic fiancé every day, and every day she seemed to love him more and more, if that was possible.

“What’s wrong, Alex?”

He held on tighter and she pressed a kiss into his hair. “I don’t know if I should tell you,” he said.

“Total honesty,” she said, reminding him of the vow they had made to each other.

“You’re right,” he said as he looked into her eyes. He pulled her into his lap and nestled her against him. “It’s Marcello.”

“What about him?”

“He’s going on a mission that’s little more than an ambush.”

“Oh, Alex.”

“I understand that he needs to go. Truthfully, what he has planned could actually work and he seems to have every angle covered. I still want him to stay behind.”

“He’s your younger brother. Of course, you want to protect him.”

That was just one of the many things he loved about Rebecca; she understood him in a way few others did.

“When does he leave?”

“Tonight, after dinner.”

“Well,” she said as she glanced at her watch. “We have got one whole hour before dinner. Whatever will we do with all that time?”

He growled again and muttered, “I’ll tell you what we’ll do.” She laughed, and he effectively silenced her with his lips.

Rebecca sighed as pleasure took over. She was still amazed at the different ways there were to reach the same explosive destination. She’d been a virgin when Alex had begun to pursue her, but he certainly didn’t seem to find her inexperience lacking. If anything, it seemed to arouse him even more.

She fisted her hands in his hair while she tried to straddle him. Her skirt made this difficult, and Alex quickly unzipped it and slid it off her curvy frame. Her jacket came next as did his shirt. He may never believe it, but she loved it when he was sweaty from working out. His natural musk was stronger and even more addictive to her. She leaned down to lick and suck his nipple, and he shuddered.

Taking more control, Alex pulled her silk camisole off and threw it to the floor. Her lacy black bra and panties were admired for mere seconds before they were ripped off and added to the growing pile of clothes.

She felt wanton, wild, and desired. As his hands roamed down her body to tease her folds below, she did the same to him, shifting his shorts and stroking his erection with her slim hands.

“Holy hell, Becca,” he said, using her nickname as he did only when they made love.

“Take them off,” she gasped as she tugged at his shorts. A tingling heat was building within her and she knew it wouldn’t be much longer. “Quickly.”

Alex laid her gently down on the floor, her body splayed naked for him. After he pulled the rest of his clothes off, his erection stood long and hard against his stomach. They spent a few moments simply staring at each other, breathing heavily. Who knew staring could be foreplay?

His hands caressed her face and slid down her body, stopping just underneath her breast where she had been injured. Gone were the physical scars of her kidnapping a month ago, though the emotional ones still lingered. Here, with Alex now positioning himself over her, nothing else mattered. Nothing mattered but this moment.

“Alex, please.”

“Becca,” he said, situating himself fully inside in one hard thrust. They both groaned.

“Hurry,” she said as he moved slowly. Ever since her birth control shot had kicked in, they had gone completely bare and she felt his every thrust acutely.

“We’ve got an hour.”

“Please,” she begged.

“I want to enjoy you, Becca. I want to feel you, my future wife,” he said and seemed to grow harder within her.

“Then feel this,” she said as she reversed their position, drawing him even deeper inside her. She rubbed her hands up his delicious chest before joining them with his over his head. She began to roll her hips, urging his faster. She loved this, when it was just their bodies and breath against each other.

“Becca,” he said before his lips found one nipple positioned conveniently close to his lips and sucked.

She moaned. “Go over with me, Alex,” she said as she moved faster and forced him to do the same. “Please.”

“Becca,” he said as he arched his back and exploded within her. The sight of him out of control by her hands and body undid her, and her orgasm came moments later on a cry of his name.

She continued to shift against him until he was completely spent, then let go of his hands and collapsed against him. Her hair cascaded over his chest as she nuzzled it. As their breath evened, he began to draw his fingers through her long hair.

“You take my breath away, Rebecca. Every time.”

She smiled against his chest. “You do the same for me.” She lifted her head up. “I still can’t believe you’re mine sometimes.”

“You own me, darling, heart and soul.” He pulled her head closer to his. “Just remember that you are
mine
just as much as I am yours.”

She smiled at his possessive nature. “Yes, dear,” she said with a quick kiss. She extricated herself from him and stood up, glancing at the clothes in a messy pile on the floor. She would pick them up later. They still had time before dinner, and she wanted to make Alex forget his worries just a little longer.

“I could use a shower,” she said as she strode away, unabashedly naked. “Care to join me?”

A devious smile slid across his face and he deftly jumped up. “I’d love to,” he said.

With a squeal, she ran for their shower and he ran after her, catching her just inside their bedroom door.

Marcello stood in the dining room waiting for the others to arrive for dinner. Since there were so few of them, they would utilize one of the smaller dining rooms. The last dinner before he left on a mission or an extended tour of duty was always difficult.

As he waited, he stared at one of the more recent royal family portraits that hung in the room. His eyes rested on Ethan, the youngest of all their siblings, currently working as a doctor in the Vallerian Royal Navy. The last time they had seen him was at a dinner to celebrate Alex and Rebecca’s engagement almost a month ago; he had shipped back out later that night. Even as a doctor, Ethan went to dangerous parts of the world and tried to help others. Marcello remembered all too well how he felt on those nights Ethan shipped out, so he knew what the others might be feeling about him right now.

“That’s a very lovely painting of us, don’t you think?” his younger sister Arianna said as she entered the room.

Marcello nodded. “We’ll need a new one though. This one doesn’t have Rebecca in it.”

“I’m sure we’ll get one after they’re married.”

“That’s almost a year away.”

“It wouldn’t be appropriate otherwise,” Arianna said as she took her seat at the round table, with her back straight and caramel-colored hair twisted elegantly atop her head. Marcello worried about his sister. Truthfully, he worried about all his sisters but the Arianna in front of him wasn’t the same Arianna he had grown up with and laughed with.

As Marcello was about to speak to her, their parents entered the room. They had decided to forego their typical pre-dinner drinks since Marcello needed to leave soon. Just as his parents sat down, in came Alex and Rebecca, followed quickly by their younger brother Lorenzo, who had come up from the coastal town of Masillia where he lived, and their youngest sister Carolina, who was an artist.

“I didn’t know you were going to be here,” Marcello said as he greeted Lorenzo and Carolina with a hug.

“Of course we’d be here,” Lorenzo said. “You didn’t think we’d miss this, do you?”

“Really, Marcello. You should know us better than that,” Carolina said, dropping a kiss on each of Marcello’s cheeks.

“You were supposed to be in Paris, weren’t you?” Marcello asked her.

“And now I’m here,” Carolina said easily. “I’ll go back in a few days.”

“A few days?”

“It doesn’t hurt to stick around here, in case I’m needed.”

It wasn’t lost on Marcello that even while his family prayed for the best, they prepared for the worst. It was one of the qualities that had been instilled in them all from a young age.

“The others couldn’t make it,” Marcello’s mother, Queen Genevieve, said as Gabriel held her chair for her. Despite having nine children in eight pregnancies, her waist had remained slim even while the rest of her had become curvier. Genevieve’s dark blond hair, which matched Marcello’s but for the smattering of gray and white strands, was in an elegant twist atop her head. “Sarah’s busy with her ambassador duties in Italy, and Nathaniel’s away at an international finance and banking conference.”

“They messaged me earlier,” Marcello said as he finally took his seat as well next to Rebecca. “I think we’re still recovering from the last family dinner anyway,” he said with a smile, hoping to lighten the mood.

Alex and Rebecca gave each other sappy smiles and Alex leaned over to give Rebecca a soft kiss. “It was a lovely dinner,” Alex said as he gazed into Rebecca’s eyes. “The first of many together.”

The mood around the room softened; another plan successfully executed. He hoped his mission went just as well, too.

“Yes, when will we have another family dinner?” Arianna asked as she laid her cloth napkin gracefully over her lap.

“I think we should have one when Marcello gets back,” Alex said, finally drawing his eyes away from Rebecca to give him a curious glance. “I’m sure he’d like for the whole family to meet Grace.”

“Grace? Is Catharine’s friend coming to visit?” Genevieve asked, then glanced shrewdly at Marcello. “Why would my son want the family to meet her?”

Marcello narrowed his eyes at Alex. “Thanks,
Alex
,” he said in a terse tone.

“My pleasure,
Marcello
,” Alex replied with a devious smile on his face.

As Marcello started to reply back, Rebecca laid a hand on Marcello’s arm. “Would you be happy if Grace visited?” she asked.

Marcello sighed as the fight drained out of him; he couldn’t be mad at Rebecca simply because her fiancé was an idiot. “I guess Alex told you about Grace.”

Alex looked slightly abashed. “I actually didn’t. I’m sorry, darling. I meant to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” she said in a no nonsense tone.

“Marcello’s in love with Grace.”

“What?” the others at the table, including Rebecca said. She looked first at Alex, then at Marcello. “What?”

“It’s true,” Marcello said. “She’s coming to visit us. I’d appreciate it if you could make her feel welcome.”

“Well, of course, we will,” she said warmly. Then, she turned to Alex and swatted his arm. In a cooler tone, she said, “How could you not tell me this?” Gabriel and Genevieve joined hands under the table while they each hid a smile; they loved it when Rebecca put Alex in his place.

Alex spoke in a rush. “I was working out and you came into the gym and we started, that is, started discussing wedding details and it completely slipped my mind.” Alex felt guilty for not telling Rebecca, but why he felt guilty was a mystery to him.

“Well, the next time one of your brothers or sisters tells you they’re in love, and that the person they love is coming to visit, don’t let ‘wedding details’ distract you.”

“Darling,” he started, but she gave him a glare that made him decide to change tact. “I’m sorry,” he said as he wrapped an arm around her. “I didn’t mean to.”

“I know you didn’t, which is why I accept your apology,” she said as she wrapped her arm around him, too. Alex leaned close to whisper something in her ear, and she nodded with a shy smile. After a soft kiss and more sappy smiles, Alex and Rebecca were back to normal again.

With the arrival of the appetizers, small conversations began again around the table. Arianna, seated on Marcello’s other side, asked, “Are you really in love, Marcello? Is it different from last time?”

Arianna knew only too well about the woman who had betrayed him. In fact, it had partially been Arianna’s fault that Marcello had almost been killed. He did not blame her for it, however; they had both trusted the wrong people.

“It’s very different from last time,” Marcello told her. “I don’t think I was in love the last time. This, what I have with Grace, it’s nothing like I’ve ever felt before.”

“Like what Alex has with Rebecca?”

“I imagine it is,” Marcello said, with a glance at the couple who were conversing quietly.

Arianna sighed and Marcello turned back to her. “Are you all right?”

“Just fine, thank you,” she said as she expertly cut into another scallop with a knife and fork.

“What happened?”

“What do you mean?” she asked before she took a bite.

“For years now you’ve just gotten stiffer and more formal with everyone.”

“It’s appropriate.”

“We’re family. If you can’t be yourself with family, who the hell can you be yourself with?” Arianna seemed to be mulling that over while she shifted the rest of the scallop around her plate. “Damn it, is this about what happened all those years ago?”

Arianna sat up straighter. “That’s the past,” she said and took another bite quickly.

“I don’t think it is, not for you. None of us blame you for that, not even me.”

“
I
blame me,” she said with more emotion than he’d seen from her for years. She put down her silverware and reached for her wine.

“You shouldn’t.”

As she took a few sips, he saw her fighting for composure, and winning. Hidden behind a mask of propriety once more, she said, “I’m very happy for you and Grace.”

Marcello sighed. It seemed he wasn’t going to be able to get through to his little sister tonight. He would have to spend more time with her if - no, when - he got back.

As dinner was brought out, the conversations around the table shifted towards world news, as it often did with Gabriel and Alex both in attendance.

“Brazenbourg can still help us, Papa,” Alex said as he dove into his plate of flaky fish. “They are a small country, but they have the alliances we need.”

“That may be true, but smaller countries often require much in return for their help,” Gabriel said as he sent Marcello a knowing look. Estoria, Byelorus, and Litva, the three countries involved with Valleria on his mission, were all smaller than Valleria. Marcello knew his father thought the cost of restoring our reputation - potentially with Marcello’s life - was too high a price to pay. Marcello, who had been instilled with a sense of duty and honor since a child, felt differently.

Of course, his resolve wavered as he thought of Grace again.

“I still think we should meet with them,” Alex said, speaking of Brazenbourg again, a small inland European country whose size totaled less than one hundred square miles.

“As do I,” Gabriel agreed. “See if they’ll come here. We could host a state dinner in their honor.”

“If we want their help, we may need to visit them instead,” Alex said.

“You’ll have to go in my place then, my son,” Gabriel said as he reached for his wife’s hand. “If you’ll recall, our anniversary is coming up so I am otherwise engaged.”

Genevieve smiled broadly. “Forty years.”

Gabriel lifted her hand to his lips. “Forty of the most wonderful years of my life,” he said.

Marcello saw Alex whisper in Rebecca’s ear and wondered if he and Grace would be sitting here together in forty years, too. The idea that they might not be had his heart aching.

“Are we having a party, then?” Carolina asked.

“Yes, let’s please have a party,” Lorenzo said with a wicked grin. “And invite lots of single women.”

“You’re as bad as Nate,” Alex said.

“All I’m saying is that a party celebrating true love is a great place to meet women, particularly if you’re a prince.”

“Lorenzo!” Genevieve said from her seat next to his, and then swatted him on the back of the head. “I won’t have you or Nathaniel disrespecting women.”

“Mama, trust me. I very much respect women, probably too much.”

Groans were heard around the table until Gabriel, with a warning voice, said, “Lorenzo.”

Lorenzo shrugged. “Can I help it if I haven’t found the right person like Alex? I mean, it’s hard to find a woman as amazing as my Mama is.”

This time ‘Awws’ were heard around the table and Genevieve gave Lorenzo a kiss on the cheek. “Lorenzo, dear, you’re full of it, but I love you anyway.”

Everyone started laughing. God, Marcello would miss them. He was so lucky to have such a loving family.

“To get back to the earlier question,” Gabriel said when the laughter died down. “Yes, we shall have a party. Your mother and I have already discussed it. We’ll have a family-only lunch and a larger ball. If there’s anyone you’d like to invite, let your mother know.”

“My parents,” Rebecca said as Alex rested his hand on her thigh. Marcello noticed that Alex always seemed to be touching her when they were near each other, as though he couldn’t help it. Marcello, who was missing Grace with a terrible yearning, could relate.